Many graphical user interfaces for computers are based on a desktop metaphor that creates a graphical environment simulating work at a desk. These graphical user interfaces typically employ a windowing environment within the desktop. The windowing environment presents the user with specially delineated areas of the screen called windows, each of which is dedicated to a particular application program, file, document, or group of files (e.g., a folder).
FIG. 1 is an illustration of a prior art graphical user interface 10 of a computer network folder 12 containing multiple computer files 14, such as document files, photo files, etc. It will be appreciated that computer files 14 in FIG. 1 are actually icons that represent or designate the files, but in the terminology of the art the icons or other symbols representing objects are referred to as the objects themselves. User interface 10 is rendered on display screens of user computers, for example.
Computer network folder 12 represents a computer or network space within which computer files 14 are stored. In the earliest personal computers, the folder in which a group of computer files was stored was dedicated to and accessible from only one computer. With the networking of computers, a folder such as computer network folder 12 may be accessible by many users from many different computers on a network.
In a computer network, for example, some network folders might be publicly shared and accessible to virtually any user on the network, and other folders might have access or sharing that is limited only to specified users. Folders with limited access or sharing would typically contain sensitive or private information that is not needed by all network users.
In prior art graphical user interface 10, computer files 14 are shown in computer network folder 12 in the same manner regardless of whether network folder 12 is widely shared, shared on a limited basis, or entirely private. A single layer of information, computer files 14, is rendered to identify the contents of folder 12. The single-layered representation does not indicate any other information or property, such as the extent to which files in the folder are shared, even though such a property could be very important to how a user works with the folder contents.
As a result, current implementations of shared computer spaces, like network folders or “shares,” can facilitate serious breaches of network security. When they create shared network spaces such as folder 14, users do not always maintain the access rights (i.e., shared access) so that in time the shared status of the space can be forgotten. As a result, sensitive files might then be stored in a network space that is shared with users for whom access rights are not intended.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a multi-layer graphical user interface that provides multiple types of information in at least two layers of a common display space, such as a window or desktop. In one implementation, a shared network folder includes two layers of display objects to separately represent files contained in the folder and users with whom the folder is shared. The first or top layer may represent the files with conventional words, icons or other symbols. The second or lower level may represent the users with whom the folder is shared with words, icons or other symbols that are dimmed, blurred, or otherwise de-emphasized relative to the top layer.
The multi-layer graphical user interface allows multiple distinct types of information to be rendered graphically in a common display space. As a result, the information of primary significance (e.g., the files) can be readily discernible by the user, while significant related information is rendered without degrading the display of primary significance with a clutter of display objects. In one implementation, the distinct types of information to be rendered may be selected from more than two distinct types of information in a type control bar.
Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.